I’ve never really mentioned parabens here before, and since a lot of products carry the “paraben-free” label these days, I thought I’d give you a little information about them.

Parabens are a group of chemicals widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Parabens are effective preservatives in many types of formulas. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bacteriocidal and fungicidal properties. They can be found in shampoos, deodorants, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, spray tanning solution and toothpaste. They are also used as food additives.

As you can see from this definition, parabens are in many, many products.  When I was pregnant with Gabriel, I began to do some research on parabens and began to throw out my main-stream beauty products.  You see, parabens have been linked to metabolic, developmental, hormonal, and neurological disorders, as well as various cancers.  The Environmental Protection Agency states that ALL parabens have been proved to interfere with the function of the endocrine system, and these endocrine disruptors are stored in our body’s fat tissues.  Endocrine disruptors have been suspected of contributing to reproductive and developmental disorders, learning problems, and immune system dysfunction in children. I didn’t want to put anything potentially harmful on my body, especially while I was pregnant.

Dr. Mercola suggests that if you wouldn’t eat your beauty products, you probably shouldn’t put it on your body either.  He says to seek out products that are so pure that you could actually eat them.  When you put anything on your skin, it gets absorbed into your bloodstream and becomes integrated with your body tissue.  Scary, huh?

How can you avoid these?  Read your labels and check out products at Skin Deep before you buy to find out if they’re safe.  According to the Safe Cosmetics Campaign, we should avoid the following chemicals, whenever possible:

Butyl acetate

Butylated hydroxytoluene

Coal tar

Cocamide DEA/lauramide DEA

Diazolidinyl urea

Ethyl acetate

Formaldehyde

Parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl)

Petrolatum

Phthalates

Propylene glycol

Sodium laureth/sodium laurel sulfate

Talc

Toluene

Triethanolamine

I hope this is helpful information that you’ve been seeking.  I think Skin Deep is invaluable, and I highly encourage you to use it, espcially if all this seems really overwhelming to you.

Looking for safe products to put on your body can sometimes lead to a very long search.  So I’d like to help you out from time to time by telling you what I’ve come across that I know is a safe product that you don’t have to worry about.

When I mention a safe product, I am referring to a  low rating at Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic safety database. This is such an awesome tool, and you can search for any body product you want.  It’s how I search for any body product that I need to purchase.

One of those is California Baby Sunscreen.  All of the ingredients are safe, it keeps us protected, and it’s lasted a long time for us. Our whole family uses it too!  We’ve been using this one for about two years and have never had any problems.  When I purchased it, it was one of the few safe sunscreens I could find that wasn’t crazy expensive. They also have this stick version, that has a rating of zero – the best.

So, even though summer is almost over, if you need to buy some more sunscreen, here’s another option.  Try it out and see what you think.

When our first son had cradle cap as an infant, I searched all around for a cradle cap shampoo that was natural and not full of parabens.  At that time, only two years ago, there weren’t as many products that were “paraben free” like there are today.  The only shampoo I found that met my criteria and that was within my price range was California Baby Tea Tree & Lavender Shampoo and Body Wash.  After only a few washes, his head was already getting better and his cradle cap had cleared up.


I’ve used this shampoo almost exclusively for him since then, and now I use it for my other little guy.  And, I’m happy to report that he never got cradle cap!

I must also mention our cool hair washing technique that we picked up at the hospital.  Many of you may do this already, but for those who don’t, I think you’ll like it.  We squeeze a little shampoo directly onto our baby’s head and then use their hairbrush to scrub around their little heads.  The bristles are soft and help to scrub, and the shampoo suds up really nicely too!